96% of U.S. metro areas lost construction jobs this year, research finds

Construction employment dropped this year in more than 96% of the country’s metropolitan areas, according to research released today by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Of the 337 metropolitan areas, construction-related jobs plunged in 324 regions between August 2008 and August 2009, according to an analysis of federal employment data.

The Reno-Sparks area of Nevada was the hardest hit, with a 35% dive, followed by the 33% sag in the Duluth region spread over Minnesota and Wisconsin. Construction employment in Tucson plummeted 31%, and it slumped 30% in Wenatchee, Wash.

Several California areas suffered deep declines. Construction jobs in Redding dipped 28%, while employment in the construction, mining and logging sectors in El Centro dropped 27%. The Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario region, as well as the Sacramento, Arden-Arcade and Roseville area saw construction jobs slide 23%. Construction, mining and logging work fell 23% in the Santa Cruz and Watsonville zone.

Statewide, California’s construction employment numbers dropped 19%, from 798,400 workers to 650,200. Construction jobs in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale division fell 12%, from 145,400 workers to 127,300. The best performer in the state was the Hanford-Corcoran metropolitan area in Central California, which was ranked 95% nationwide with an 8% drop in construction, mining and logging jobs....

Neighbors flip out over "Flipping Out" star's behavior

Los Angeles real estate reality television star Jeff Lewis, who is known for his cocksure, confrontational style, has made the neighbors of one of his projects very afraid, they said, and they want a restraining order to keep him at bay. Lewis is the star of "Flipping Out," a Bravo channel show that follows him as he buys, renovates and resells homes.

Terence Beesley and Ashley Jensen, who live next door to a house Lewis is improving on Valley Oak Drive in Los Feliz, said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the developer constructed a deck at the house that encroached on their property. When they became aware of the encroachment earlier this year, Lewis offered them $10,000 to buy an easement, but their real estate experts concluded the easement was worth $100,000, they said.

Lewis countered during an unexpected nighttime visit to their house with an offer of $30,000 and threatened to make their lives miserable by casting them in a negative light in front of 3 million television viewers, they said in their complaint. Named in the suit is Lewis' partner, Ryan Brown, who the neighbors described as Lewis' "supposedly relatively even-keeled" foil, and Lewis' company, Vicious Investments. It accuses the pair of trespassing, property damage and assault, and demands that the encroaching deck be removed. No financial damages were specified.

According to Beesley and Jensen, Lewis' actions at their home are in keeping with his TV persona. Their suit says the show "involves documenting the rude, outrageous, boorish, offensive, mean-spirited bullying by Jeff Lewis of anyone or anything in his way."

Mr. Lewis, if you care to comment we will post your response! (As long as it's not rude, outrageous, boorish, offensive, mean-spirited or bullying.) OK, maybe bullying.

--Roger Vincent

Hidden treasure found in walls of home

Talk about found money. If you missed the Associated Press recounting "Cash Stash Enriches No One" in your Sunday L.A. Times reading, here's the gist from the print edition:

A contractor who found $182,000 in Depression-era currency hidden in a bathroom wall has ended up with only a few thousand dollars....

The windfall discovery amounted to little more than grief for contractor Bob Kitts, who couldn't agree on how to split the money with homeowner Amanda Reece.

Essentially, because the pair couldn't figure out how to divvy up the loot, it became public knowledge and must be split with the 21 descendants of the wealthy businessman who hid the money in the first place. More from AP:

"If these two individuals had sat down and resolved their disputes and divided the money, the heirs would have had no knowledge of it," said attorney Gid Marcinkevicius, who represents the [Patrick] Dunne estate. "Because they were not able to sit down and divide it in a rational way, they both lost."

Kitts was tearing the bathroom walls out of an 83-year-old home near Lake Erie in 2006 when he discovered two green metal lockboxes suspended inside a wall below the medicine chest, hanging from a wire. Inside were white envelopes with the return address for "P. Dunne News Agency."

"I ripped the corner off of one," Kitts said during a deposition in a lawsuit filed by Dunne's estate. "I saw a 50 and got a little dizzy."

He called Reece, a former classmate who had hired him for a remodeling project....

She offered 10%. He wanted 40%. From there, things went sour.

End of story? Monday an update from the Associated Press moved on the wire:

A Cleveland woman who ended up in a feud over $182,000 in Depression-era currency found in the walls of her home has filed for bankruptcy.

If anyone has similar tales of valuables hidden in Southern California houses, I'd love to hear from you.

--Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photos: Some of the money, top, and the Cleveland house where contractor Bob Kitts found $182,000. Credits: Bob Kitts, top, and Tony Dejak / Associated Press